US SEC "NFTs may not be securities"... Discussion on exemptions like Stoner Cats

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may expand discussions to exclude non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from securities regulation. Following recent statements that Bitcoin mining and meme coins are 'non-securities', there is speculation that NFTs could receive similar exemptions.

According to The Block on the 20th (local time), Hester Peirce, co-head of the SEC's virtual asset task force (TF), stated in an interview after a virtual asset roundtable that "providing a framework or guidelines for NFT issuers to reference could be helpful," and "we can make an announcement of an exemptive nature regarding NFTs."

Commissioner Peirce specifically mentioned that projects like 'Stoner Cats' or 'Flyfish Club' could be considered for exclusion from securities regulation. These projects raised funds for animation production and membership restaurant construction by selling NFTs, and are structured to allow secondary market trading with a certain fee returning to the creators. In the past, the SEC, during the tenure of former Chairman Gary Gensler, had filed lawsuits against these projects for violating securities laws.

However, Commissioner Peirce drew a line by stating that not all NFTs automatically escape securities regulation. He emphasized, "Tokenized securities can be issued in the form of NFTs, and in such cases, they will naturally be excluded from exemption."